Our View: No more sun-up meetings, Belvidere School Board

’Twas was the morn after Christmas, and in Belvidere town, / Families slept in their warm beds, making nary a sound. / While over at the School Board, the elves, they were perky, ...

Rockford Register Star

Writer

Posted Jan. 5, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 5, 2013 at 4:21 AM

Posted Jan. 5, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 5, 2013 at 4:21 AM

’Twas was the morn after Christmas, and in Belvidere town,

Families slept in their warm beds, making nary a sound.

While over at the School Board, the elves, they were perky,

Having big-time discussions that were curious and quirky,

They re-upped the super and talked of school closings,

As the stakeholders snoozed through their upcoming hosing.

The Belvidere School District has a looming deficit of $45 million over the next five years because of declining state aid and decreasing enrollment. Administrators have proposed five options for eliminating at least $3 million in expenses each year by realigning the way grades are assigned to schools.

Big decisions must be made by a School Board. To make them, members need all the input they can get from stakeholders.

So ... when did the School Board have its meeting? At 7 a.m. Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, that’s when.

Many people had the day off and were sleeping in. Others were getting ready for work. One only can wonder what the School Board members were thinking. We think they wanted to have the next best thing to a closed meeting, that’s what.

The board debated the merits of closing various schools. Then they voted to give Mike Houselog, the superintendent who recently was rejected for a super’s job in Iowa, a five-year contract.

These are decisions school boards make routinely. But when they have early-morning meetings that are difficult, if not impossible, for most people to attend, they raise suspicions of below-board wheeling and dealing. We’re NOT saying that was the case here.

We note that the board intends to have two sessions for people to express their thoughts and concerns before it makes a decision in March on cuts.

We like that. And we hope these meetings will take place in school auditoriums and will be televised on cable TV.

And if the meetings are going to again begin at 7, let’s make sure it’s 7 p.m.